Toy Story Drabbles
by Khilari
Summary: Just drabbles for the toy story series.
1. Age

It doesn't surprise you when your string is pulled and the words come out slurred into garble. You've been feeling the catch in your chest, the soft edges to familiar phrases. Thread pulls harshly at the fraying edges of your seams these days. Toys only last forever in museums and you made that choice a long time ago.

But you didn't tell them, because how could you? How do you tell family that you won't always be there for them? So now they gather around as you slump where Bonnie left you and nobody can think of anything to say.


	2. Idle Conversation

'I've been meaning to ask,' says Woody, moving a pawn on the new travel chess set. 'Does it hurt when your batteries are dead?'

Buzz takes Woody's pawn and adds it to the growing pile. 'And you haven't asked the dozen other battery operated toys because?'

'Because they'd say "yes" whether it was true or not. I'm the only one that knows how to change them.'

Buzz chuckles. 'No, it doesn't actually hurt. Going to leave battery changing to Andy now?'

Woody slides his bishop across the board and smiles triumphantly as he takes Buzz's knight. 'What do you think?'


	3. Thanksgiving

The first Thanksgiving at Bonnie's house Woody disappeared completely. Bonnie, distracted by visiting family, hardly had time to notice and assumed he'd turn up later. It was the toys who searched the house, wishing Sarge and his men were there for covert ops. When he came back that night Buzz demanded to know where he had been.

'Andy's house. He came home for Thanksgiving and I wanted to check he was okay.'

'You're Bonnie's toy now,' said Buzz. 'And she deserves better from you.'

Woody folded his arms and looked away. 'She's not the one who noticed I was gone.'


	4. Weeks To Repair

Buzz is careful of the sharp edges as he pulls sheets of terillium-carbonic alloy back into place. The last thing he needs is for a rip in his spacesuit to cause another delay. The cold sleep equipment is shorted out, either from the crash or whatever it is that stops him getting a clear readout of the atmosphere.

A hand on his foot tugs him out from under the ship.

'Stay away from Andy. He's mine. And no one is taking him away from me.'

Buzz stares, mind still full of schematics and circuitry. 'What are you talking about?'


	5. Angel

It's before dawn on Christmas morning and a string lasso is being used to haul the baby monitor into place in the Christmas tree. Halts are called as the monitor catches on fairy lights and branches.

'Oh, what's this?' chirps a robin.

'Watch it!' says a snowman as a corner spins him around.

'Need some help there?' asks the angel doll, bending to pull at the string hooked over a branch by her feet.

Sarge salutes her. 'Thank you, ma'am.'

'No problem,' she says, cheerfully. 'Give my regards to Woody and Slinky. The attic's been a lot quieter without them.'


	6. Real

Mr. Potato Head would like to be Real because then his face wouldn't keep falling off. Hamm would like to be Real, but not a Real pig because they're messy and don't have any money. Rex worries about the effects of becoming Real when your species has already gone extinct, Hamm says he'd starve to death trying to live as a carnivore anyway. Jessie would like to try being Real out before committing herself. Buzz would like to be Real, but only if everyone else was. Woody says _The Velveteen Rabbit _is a silly story anyway and refuses to speculate.


	7. Scary Stories

Halloween is Buttercup's favourite time of year.

He tells of mutant toys in landfills, mad and abandoned, who butcher newcomers to replace their own decaying parts. Buzz and Woody catch each other's eyes as if sharing some private joke.

He tells of a life size doll bought by a mother grieving for a lost child. How she broke the rules to comfort her new owner, only to be blamed for the mother's madness and burnt by a priest. Rex hides his face behind Trixie's frill. Buttercup makes his next story a good one. No harm in helping a romance along.


	8. Legalities

'Are Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head married?' asks Jessie. Hamm is beating her at checkers with R.C. and Bullseye watching and she's trying to distract him. 'Did they have a wedding?'

'No, but they're married,' says Hamm. 'Marriage is a social, legal and religious phenomenon. Everyone accepts them as married and we don't have religion or a legal system.'

'You've got a sheriff.'

Hamm snorts. 'Since our sheriff is the only one here who's committed a crime, I don't think Woody can be the whole legal system.'

'Woody did? What'd he do?'

'Assault with a blunt instrument.'

R.C. revs indignantly.


	9. How To Train Your Puppy

Buzz finds Woody lying on his stomach half on top of the book he's reading. A photo of a puppy is visible over his shoulder.

'The training guide? Isn't Andy doing that?'

'He's mainly focussed on housebreaking,' says Woody. He stands up to turn the page and flops back down. 'I thought I'd get a head start teaching it not to chew on things.'

'Like cowboy dolls,' suggests Buzz.

'It's all very well for _you_,' Woody mutters.

Buzz sits down next to him and starts reading. It might be as well to do this while the puppy's smaller than them.


	10. Soul

Buzz wondered sometimes if he had a soul. It was no use asking Woody; the cowboy didn't see the point of unanswerable questions. Hamm and Potato Head wouldn't have taken the question seriously and Rex would have taken it far too seriously. So he kept it to himself. Later, though, he asked Jessie.

'I dunno if anyone has a soul,' she said thoughtfully. 'But I reckon we've got as much chance of having them as anyone else.'

She kissed him then, lips tasting of vinyl and something indefinably alive, and if Buzz did have a soul it belonged to her.


	11. Spark

Lotso had always been different in a way Chuckles can't define. He'd lacked the passivity of most toys, the willingness to accept how little control they had over their lives. He'd loved Daisy, maybe too much, but had never seen that as a reason not to keep batteries and superglue on hand. Big Baby and Chuckles had relied on that quality once. Sunnyside had fallen before it; the other toys, fatalists at heart, giving way before a toy with a future in mind.

Now Chuckles sees that spark in another and it's why he flicks the tag across the room.


	12. Damsel In Distress

In Andy's games Bo Peep is perpetually at risk. Woody's saved her from railroad tracks, scorpion pits and death by monkeys. Outside of games, where the toys' tendency to panic is more a risk to them than bandits, she's the one person he doesn't feel he has to look after. Someone who doesn't need anything from him but still wants him around.

'I'm sorry,' he tells her when calming people down about a sleepover has lead to a date being cancelled.

'You can't help caring,' she says, smiling as she takes his hand. 'You know I love you for that.'


	13. Mission Log

The natives show too great a diversity among sentient beings to have evolved here. They possess a robot and vehicular A.I. far beyond their technological capabilities. Attempts to ascertain their origin result in strange claims, possibly religious in nature. Clearly they have forgotten their history. I suspect they are a lost colony of the Galactic Alliance.

Their chieftain is a giant humanoid who causes a psychic pressure to remain immobile. Despite this the natives show great love and reverence for him.

The sheriff appears human but, as he shows signs of genetic modification, I won't assume the atmosphere is safe.


	14. Blame

Jessie tackles Buzz too close the the edge of the bed and they hit the floor awkwardly. Buzz's arm pops from it's socket and Jessie stifles a shriek before reaching to push it back into place. Woody comes to help and Jessie's expecting a scolding, but Woody looks as if he's the one that should be apologising. Jessie wonders whether he's sorry he brought her here.

'I would have done the same if I'd found out in Andy's house,' murmurs Buzz.

Neither of them answer 'found out _what?_', but at least Jessie's sure it has nothing to do with her.


	15. Winter Wonderland

'Psst, Buzz.' There's a string of tinsel hanging from Andy's window. Jessie's eyes are sparkling with snow reflected light.

Buzz slips from his place, leaving Woody in Andy's arms, and crosses to stand by her in the chill air. 'Didn't you and Woody already have this argument?'

'That's why we have to be quiet.'

Buzz shouldn't undermine their leader, or his friend. Woody is right; they shouldn't go out, can't leave tiny footprints. Raccoons and foxes will eat anything in winter. There are several good reasons to say 'no'. Jessie's smile is all the reason he needs to say 'yes'.


	16. Play

Buzz sits on the bed watching Woody and Jessie roll a tennis ball back and forth, Buster darting between them barking excitedly. Woody is a fraction too slow and Buster barrels into him, sending Woody tumbling and laughing beneath his paws as he finally grabs the ball. Buster's tail is wagging so fast it's a blur. Woody pulls himself up and Buster flops down, jaws still closed triumphantly around the ball, for Woody to reach over and rub his tummy. Jessie runs over to join them, laughing as she fondles Busters ears. Buzz can't imagine playing the way they do.


	17. Washing Day

'Hey, Woody, how's it hanging?' called Hamm from the cloth where most of the toys had been laid to dry in the sun. The Round-up toys were pegged on a line above them.

'Yeah, what's up?' asked Potato Head.

Bullseye, upside down with pegs on his ankles, sighed. Woody reached over awkwardly to pat his head, movement restricted by the pegs on his shoulders. Jessie swung her legs wildly, spraying Hamm and Potato Head with water. 'Are they always like this?' she asked.

'How about checking wikepedia while you're online?' added Hamm.

Woody rolled his eyes. 'Yup. Every time.'


End file.
